


The Prince of Stars

by KittyNinja567



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: First time posting here, Logic | Logan Sanders and Morality | Patton Sanders Adopt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, familial analogicality, i rlly love how that's a tag, its so soft, please let me know if there's any tags i need to add as we go on, some language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27735139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyNinja567/pseuds/KittyNinja567
Summary: Prince Roman Rosales finally reached his 15th birthday. It was a day he had been waiting for nearly his entire life, the day he would finally inherit his family's magic heirloom. The magic wand. And while he had been preparing for the day for... a very long time, he wasn't exactly as ready as he thought he was for all of the responsibilities that came with his new powers. So after one too many mistakes, his parents sent him away to a safer place than his home. A place known as Earth. A place with less distractions- without any magic at all, even!- so he could master his skills at his own pace.Virgil Sanders was just looking forward to getting through his Sophomore year of high school without any problems. These hopes got completely shattered when Roman Rosales showed up on his doorstep, there to stay for an entire year. But without much of a choice in the matter, all he can really do is try to make the best of the year ahead of him. And try not to lose his mind in the process.A Star Vs. the Forces of Evil inspired AU.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! 
> 
> My name is Kira, and though I've been writing for a while this is my first time posting on Ao3! And this is going to be a Long Boi lol. I'll be hoping to try to post a chapter at least once a week, usually on Fridays if all goes well! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy~

_ Greetings, future princes and princesses, royalty of all genders! _

_ … Well, I suppose that’s as good a way to start as any. _

_ I received this book, along with my wand, a couple of months ago now. On the day of my fifteenth birthday, as is customary for the heir to the throne of Ryulix. However, I couldn’t bring myself to write in its pages until now. After reading through the chapters of my ancestors… I wanted to ensure I made a good first impression. _

_ But alas, my father has been pestering me to write something and won’t let me hear the end of it until I do. So instead of the grandest spell you’ve ever seen, you get this.  _

_ I don’t have anything overly impressive to share, just a few simple blast spells that I’ve mastered. While they’re perfect for fighting monsters, they aren’t exactly good for much else. However, I’m just starting out! I’m sure I’ll have something magnificent to show you all soon! _

~~_ This is precisely why I wanted to hold off on writing anything… but it’s too late to do anything about that now. _ ~~

_ While I’m sure my father wants me to be writing one of those spells on this page… I’m not quite sure I see the point of it. They’re simple spells anyone could accomplish, even without my guidance. Besides, they’re the reason I’m in this mess in the first place. _

_ Oh. I suppose I could write about that. While I’m not sure it will be a  _ good  _ first impression, it’s probably better than nothing. _

_ My father has never outright stated that he dislikes my magic. But he has been trying to guide me toward focusing on something a little less… monster destroy-ey.  _ ~~_ Which makes absolutely no sense to me, he’s told me how terrible monsters are my entire life? Why wouldn’t he want me to destroy them? _ ~~ _ I wanted to prove to him that my spells were worth something. There was a village being terrorized by a monster. So naturally, I decided to help them. But monster vanquishing is a bit of a… messier process than I imagined. And the village unfortunately got caught in the crossfire.  _ ~~_ Not that it was my fault, of course! I tried to keep the fight farther away from the village, the monster was the one who _ ~~

_ The damage wasn’t even that bad. The royal guard, led by my father, was able to repair everything to its former glory- and then some!- in less than a week. But apparently, saving a town from a literal monster crossed some sort of line. My parents have decided that I can’t stay on Ryulix anymore. And so, in a couple of days, they’re sending me to a safer dimension. One with less… distractions, as Father put it. A place called Earth. _

~~_ I think that’s the real reason I was compelled to start writing in this book. I didn’t want my first entry here to be from some strange dimension. _ ~~

_ Admittedly I’ve only skimmed the majority of the chapters from my ancestors, but it doesn’t look like any of the past rulers have been to Earth. Not even my father! It’s a little exciting, to be honest. From what I found in the library, it’s a dimension without any magic. Who knows what I’ll be able to learn in a place like that? _

_ My father is probably right, anyway. It’ll be good to be away from all of the distractions here on Ryulix. While I do wish I didn’t have to make this journey alone… I’m sure everything will work out. Besides, I’m only going there for a year to start off. I should be grateful- my parents could have sent me off to reform school! _

_ I should write an actual spell in here at some point. But I can’t spend anymore time writing in this silly book right now, I have to get ready to leave tomorrow! _

_ Wait, one more thing. All of my ancestors wrote their names on the first page of their chapters. I… probably should’ve started off with that, huh? Oh well.  _

_ My name is Roman Rosales. And while I’m going to be the next king of Ryulix… starting tomorrow, I’m going to lead a normal life on Earth. _

~~_ Hopefully my parents know what they’re doing…  _ ~~


	2. Roman Comes to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil had thought he could get through a single day of school without any incident. Virgil, unfortunately, was very wrong.

Virgil Sanders was just a normal person.

Sure, he had always been what most people would call the “quiet kid”. Which was apparently weird for some reason. But that wasn’t really anything that abnormal. He just… didn’t want to risk doing anything that would make him stand out. He preferred to stay out of trouble.

Unfortunately, that hardly ever worked for him.

“Virgil Sanders to the principal’s office, Virgil Sanders to the principal’s office.” 

Even as the announcement rang through his classroom, Virgil didn’t move immediately. Instead he sank into his desk a bit. It was literally the first day of the school year. And it was almost the end of the day, too… he was so close to getting by without any incidents.

Why couldn’t he get through even one day before something went wrong?

What had even happened this time? He didn’t think he did anything…

“Ooh, someone’s in trouble,” the kid sitting next to him said, giving Virgil a teasing smile.

“Oh, shut up, Elliot,” Virgil said quickly, shooting them a glare. “It’s probably not that big of a deal.”

Elliot just laughed a little harder, even as Virgil stood up. “Whatever you say, Sanders,” they said. “Have fun in detention!”

Virgil just shook his head a bit, not bothering to deign his friend with a response as he walked out of the classroom.

The announcement didn’t give any explanation for why he needed to go see the principal. Even though that was normal, it did absolutely nothing to make him feel better. He knew logically that he hadn’t done anything that he could get in trouble for. But he also couldn’t think of a positive reason to get called to the main office. So he couldn’t do anything to stop his brain from providing all of the worst case scenarios as he made his way through the hallways of the school.

“Ah, Virgil, there you are. Please, come in.”

Virgil didn’t really focus on the principal as she ushered him into her office. Instead, his attention fixated on the other person in the room with them. A boy with wavy brown hair that Virgil had never seen before in his life.

Why was there someone else in the room with them? Who even  _ was _ this kid?

The other boy didn’t seem overly focused on Virgil himself, though. He was too busy… flipping the light switch on and off? But… why? What was this kid trying to accomplish, other than being obnoxious? 

“Thank you for coming on such short notice, Virgil,” the principal said.

Virgil didn’t acknowledge her. His attention was completely focused on the other boy. He was starting to realize that the light switch fixation was amazingly the least interesting thing about him. His clothes looked like something out of a dumb fairy tale musical. The costume was pure white, with a few golden accents along with a red sash. It would probably be an absolute nightmare to look at in the sun. 

Why would someone wear a costume like that to school? Or at all, for that matter.

“I wanted to introduce you to someone,” the principal continued. “Roman?”

The brown haired boy perked up at the sound of his name. He turned away from the light switch- finally, the constant flickering was starting to get on Virgil’s nerves- to face Virgil instead. He barely had a moment to react before the boy was suddenly right in front of him.

“Oh, how wonderful!” he exclaimed, grabbing Virgil’s hand in his own. 

Virgil immediately took a bit of a step back, tearing his hands away from the mystery boy. “H-hey, what the he—”

“Greetings, fellow human!” the boy interrupted, not even seeming to notice Virgil was saying anything. “It is an absolute pleasure to meet you!”

He smiled, his eyes shining as he looked up at Virgil expectantly.

“U-umm…”

Virgil stared back at him blankly. What was he even supposed to say to that? Who was this kid? Why did he have… golden stars on his cheeks? Were those stickers? They looked a bit too… natural to be stickers, though. Must’ve been makeup. Strange thing to use makeup for, but it wasn’t like Virgil was one to talk. The scars that littered his face definitely  _ weren’t  _ makeup, though. Especially not the one over his right eye… and now that he was looking at the boy’s eyes, why did they look so bright? They were green, like Virgil’s, but something about them just didn’t seem quite human.

Virgil took another step back.

The principal laughed lightly, moving to stand between the two. “Virgil, this is Roman Rosales. He’s a foreign exchange student from… Ryulix.”

Virgil blinked. “What?”

Was… was that even a real place? It was clear that this kid- that Roman- wasn’t from anywhere nearby. But so far away that Virgil had never even heard of it? And he still couldn’t figure out why it was so important for him specifically to meet this exchange student. This was weird.

It  _ was _ weird, right? He wasn’t just over thinking things?

For the first time Virgil looked away from Roman, looking up at the principal in hope of some semblance of an explanation. She wasn’t looking at him though, her smile- which almost seemed a little forced- had turned to Roman instead.

“Roman, meet Virgil Sanders,” the principal continued. “He’s going to be showing you around.”

Virgil was going to what?

Roman’s eyes lit up more, if that was even possible.

“Excellent!” he exclaimed. 

Virgil flinched a bit. Why was this kid so  _ loud _ ? They were right next to each other, there was literally zero reason to shout. Did he just not have any semblance of self control?

Virgil was going to try to say something, but couldn’t even get a word in before Roman clapped his hands together.

“Well, let’s get going, then!”

“No,” Virgil declared, shaking his head a bit. He took a step away from Roman and looked up at the principal again. “No no no, I don’t think I can do this.”

The principal's smile faltered a bit. “Oh come now, Virgil! You're perfect for the job.” She pulled him to the side a bit, just out of earshot from the brown haired boy. “To be honest, his parents asked me to have someone like you keep an eye on him. He’d benefit from having someone as… responsible as you are to hold him back a bit, you know?”

Keep an eye on him? That was even more work than just plain old showing him around. When did he agree to this?

“You’ve got the wrong guy,” Virgil said, backing away a little more. “I mean, you  _ know _ how often I get into trouble, right? Do you seriously want me around this kid?”

The principal laughed lightly. Her gaze shifted to Roman for a moment. “That’s another reason why I want you to be responsible for him. I think having someone to watch out for will be good for you.”

Virgil eyed Roman a little warily. The other boy was looking at him almost expectantly. This… was not going to work out.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Virgil said.

Luckily, he didn't have to think of an actual excuse to give the principal, as the bell rang to signal the end of the day.

Roman jumped. “An alarm!” And then an instant later he was standing in front of Virgil protectively. “Fear not, everyone, I can take care of any monster that has infiltrated these sacred grounds!”

It was only then that Virgil noticed Roman was holding something. He honestly wasn't fully sure what it was, but if he had to guess it was some kind of... fake magic wand? It certainly wouldn’t look out of place as a prop in some low budget school play. It was bright and colorful, consisting mostly of vibrant oranges and golds. The head of the wand- which was shaped like a sun- had a golden crown inscribed in the center.

He was holding the wand like it was actually going to do something, other than be moderately annoying to get hit by. Was this kid for real?

“Yeah, uh...” Virgil slowly pushed Roman’s arm out of the way. “That's actually my cue to go,” he said, pointing up at the bell. He shot a look at the principal. “Sorry, but my dad would probably worry if I got home late.”

That was a bad excuse. So bad he was internally cursing himself for even saying it. It was relatively common knowledge that he usually went home a little late compared to the other students, so he could leave at the same time as his other dad. His father, who happened to be a teacher at the school. But before the principal could point that out, Virgil was out the door.

“Oh, does that mean our tour has begun?”

_ Why the hell did Roman follow him out? _

Virgil immediately whirled on him, ready to shut him down.

“Look, buddy...”

Roman’s smile somehow widened. “Ah, there’s no need to explain yourself! I understand that being in my presence can be overwhelming. But rest assured, there is no reason for such concern! Here, you may treat me the same as any other normal student.”

Virgil stared back at him in utter disbelief. Was that seriously what he thought the problem was? How conceited was this guy?

“That’s not what I—”

“Now then, I believe you offered me a tour?”

“I didn’t  _ offer _ you any—”

“I must admit, I’m rather excited!” Roman continued, brushing past Virgil. “I’ve never seen a place quite like this before.”

Virgil blinked, somehow finding himself following after Roman as he walked aimlessly down the hallway. “You’ve... never seen a high school before?”

Roman glanced back at him over his shoulder. His emerald eyes were shining once more, and it seemed like... the stars on his cheeks were too? No… Virgil must’ve just been imagining things.

“Oh, so that is what this place is known as?” he clarified.

Virgil stopped short.

Roman didn’t know what a high school was? How was that even possible?

“Where exactly did you say you were from, again?” Virgil asked.

Roman laughed. “I would hope that would be rather obvious,” he said, grinning as he pointed at the stars on his cheeks. “I’m from Ryulix, of course.”

Yeah... Virgil still didn’t know where that was. Or if it even existed. But he also just... really didn’t have the energy to question it anymore.

“Right,” he settled on instead, as he started walking down the hallway again. He was absentmindedly walking toward his dad's classroom, hoping to be able to convince him to leave early. He was halfway down the hall before he realized that Roman was  _ still _ following him.

“Stop following me around!” Virgil snapped, whirling on him.

Roman didn’t seem disturbed by his outburst at all, instead tilting his head a bit. “Is that not how tours work?” His eyes lit up once more, as if he had solved some huge mystery. “Oh, does the word perhaps have a different meaning on earth?”

On earth? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Virgil shook his head a bit. God, this was stupid. Why was he even still talking to this guy?

He turned to continue down the hallway, and once again Roman followed after him.

Oh right. That was why.

_ Roman would not leave him alone. _

Virgil groaned, spinning around to face him once more. “If I give you this stupid tour, will you leave me alone?”

Roman blinked. “If... that is truly what you desire, of course I will. I would never wish to impose on you.”

How the  _ hell _ did he not see the problem with that statement?

Okay. No. Virgil wasn’t going to waste time getting into that. It would be much easier to just. Show him around the school. Show him around, ditch him when they got to his dad's classroom, and then he would never have to deal with Roman again. The school wasn't overly big, he could get this over with quickly.

Or he would’ve been able to get it over with quickly, if Roman wasn’t so freaking distractible!

Virgil was starting to wonder which one of them was  _ actually  _ leading this tour, as Roman turned down every new hallway that he saw. He introduced himself to every person in sight, teachers and students alike, startling more than a few people in the process. He also opened up nearly every door in the entire damn school. Virgil barely even got a chance to explain what the different rooms were before Roman was on to the next one already.

Virgil wished he could just ditch him. Let him wander around on his own, which he was basically already doing! But no, the instant Virgil turned around Roman would stop him to ask where they were going next. Or he’d manage to get himself in some sort of trouble.

In the span of less than half an hour, Roman had almost tripped over loose floor tiles, walked headfirst into open lockers and doors, slipped on wet floors that were  _ clearly _ labeled with caution signs, and even managed to find some broken glass to nearly step on? Virgil had absolutely no idea why that last one was even an issue- why was there even broken glass lying around in a  _ school _ \- but he wasn’t even surprised when he had to pull Roman away from it.

All of those things could’ve been easily avoided if he was paying attention. Yet somehow Roman missed  _ all of them _ . The kid had basically zero self preservation instincts, how did he make it to high school? And why did  _ Virgil _ have to be his babysitter? That was never a job he wanted to have ever, and he wasn’t even getting paid for it.

But it would be fine. They were running out of places to wander around. He could make it through the day. Everything. Was. Fine.

“Duck, stray ball!” Virgil exclaimed. As he pulled Roman out of the way of yet another easily avoidable obstacle, the two stumbled to the ground.

Virgil sighed, pushing himself up on his hands. He had taken Roman outside to  _ avoid _ random obstacles. Why was this kid such a disaster magnet? This was  _ not _ how Virgil wanted to spend his first day of school... he could’ve been home by now.

Roman sighed as well, standing up. “You know, Virgil, you don’t have to keep doing that. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

Virgil looked up at him in disbelief. He had just spent the past... God knows how long dragging this kid out of the way of things that shouldn’t have even been obstacles. And  _ that _ was the thanks that he got?

“Are you serious?”

“Besides, it’s not like we were in any actual danger,” Roman continued, as if Virgil hadn’t even said anything. “A couple of loose floor tiles are hardly anything compared to things I’ve seen. There’s no need to be so overly cautious.”

Roman held out his hand, a silent offer to help Virgil back up.

It was an offer Virgil completely ignored, standing up on his own. “Wha... I... I am not overly cautious!” he protested. He crossed his arms, turning away from Roman a bit. Roman was just not cautious enough.

Roman eyed him, grinning slightly. “Would you prefer paranoid, perhaps?”

“I’m not paranoid, either!” Virgil shouted, shooting Roman a glare. “I just... you said it yourself, this isn’t even real danger. Why are we arguing about this?”

Roman laughed lightly. “You react so strongly to such... moderate inconveniences, I’d hate to see you up against some of the evils that I've conquered.”

He kept on going on and on about the things he’d faced, yet somehow barely went into any detail. This kid had such an overactive imagination… and he was super full of himself, too. There was no way someone could actually pull off anything in the stories he had told. 

Virgil clenched his fists tightly, feeling his temper rising. “Yeah, monsters, right?” He scoffed. “You know, I think I’d welcome one of those right about now. Might finally make things interesting around here.”

Roman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, really? Wonderful! I would be more than happy to arrange that.”

Even though Virgil had only known Roman for an hour tops, the look on Roman’s face shot fear through his soul. Especially since the stars on his cheeks looked like they lit up a bit, as well.

Virgil took a step back.

“Roman, what are you—”

Before Virgil could finish his sentence, Roman had raised the wand in his right hand. Virgil jumped as a burst of light shot out of it, hitting a poor bird that just happened to be flying by at the moment.

Virgil’s eyes widened as he stumbled back. That wand actually did something? How??

He didn't even get a chance to try to process it, though, as the bird started... growing. Changing into something more monstrous. To the point that Virgil couldn’t even call it a  _ bird _ anymore, even though it had been one just seconds before.

“What the fu—”

Virgil jumped, instinctively wrapping his arms around himself as the creature cut him off with a roar. It then flew off, taking a nearby student with it.

What the actual hell had just happened?

And why did Roman look so  _ calm _ ?

In fact, the brown haired boy almost looked proud of himself for… whatever had just happened. He was looking at Virgil, smiling in the same way a dog would when it was seeking praise. 

“What the hell was that?” Virgil demanded, instinctively taking a step away from him. “How… how did you even—”

“What’s the matter?” Roman asked, tilting his head a bit. “I thought you  _ wanted _ danger.”

“Yeah, I... I didn’t mean—” Virgil took a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing.

The… bird was gone. Everything was fine. He didn’t have anything to worry about. He just had to focus on what was right in front of him. Focus on  _ Roman _ . 

Virgil’s arms fell back to his sides as he slowly looked up at Roman. “Who even are you?”

Roman's gaze shifted to the side. “Well, I suppose I never did give you a proper introduction,” he said to himself thoughtfully.

He cleared his throat. Virgil was almost impressed that he even managed to do  _ that _ over dramatically. 

“My name is Roman Rosales, and I am the crown prince of the kingdom of Ryulix,” he said. His regal expression quickly faded into a softer smile as his attention settled back on Virgil. “Though while I'm here in your dimension, you may treat me as you would anyone else.”

Virgil stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he had just said. 

_ Your dimension. _

He... Roman was actually from another dimension. Virgil wasn't sure if he should've been surprised by that or not. He knew that there  _ were _ other dimensions, of course. It was something his father had studied before. There was a time when he was really into it himself, when he was a kid. Probably because his father spent a lot of his free time reading up on the subject, all those years ago. He had mostly grown out of it since then, but still found the concept moderately interesting. And while he had absolutely no idea it was possible to travel between dimensions… 

Looking at the boy in front of him, there were no other explanations he could think of. 

That still left one question, though. 

Virgil backed away from him a bit. “If you’re really from some other dimension, what are you doing here? How did you even get here?”

“Ah, well…” Roman turned away. “My parents sent me here. They thought it would be best for me to be away from home for a little while. So I could master my magic in a… safer dimension.”

Oh. So they got fed up with him and dumped him here, where he could be someone else's problem.

At that moment, Virgil honestly couldn’t blame them.

“Yeah, cool,” Virgil said quickly, before clapping his hands together. “Anyway, that brings us to the end of the tour! I, uh... gotta get going.”

Virgil turned without another word, not waiting for Roman to respond. He did, of course, that boy couldn't even be quiet for five seconds. But Virgil opted to ignore Roman's calls of goodbyes, tuning out his promises to meet again the next day as he pulled the hood of his dark hoodie over his head.

How was this happening?  _ Why _ was this happening? Why did he have to get involved? Was this supposed to be some sort of punishment for something? He couldn’t think of any other explanation for why he was the one to get stuck with this guy.

But it was fine. It was all over now. He did the tour, and that was all that he agreed to. He never had to talk to Roman again.

He decided it would be best to walk home from school. That would give him a chance to clear his head, and would also prevent him from walking into Roman again on his way to his father’s classroom. So with a quick text to his parents explaining where he was, he made his way home by himself.

Both his dads were home by the time he was, not that he was surprised. But what he wasn't expecting was hearing the sounds of... laughter from inside the house. It wasn’t necessarily an unusual sound, but it was at a weird time. Usually his parents would still be working around now. And why did it sound like they were talking to someone? There was no way they would have someone over without telling Virgil first.

Virgil slowly opened the front door, poking his head into the entrance way. “I’m home…” he announced hesitantly.

“Oh, there you are, Virgil! We were waiting for you!” 

And in an instant, his dad was in front of him. Patton Sanders. Despite the fact that Virgil was still in a relatively bad mood, seeing his dad's ever persistent bright smile was enough to make him crack a grin as well.

“Hey, Pops,” he said. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“It’s fine, kiddo! I’m just glad you're back,” Patton said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now come on, there’s someone I need to introduce you to!”

Virgil let Patton lead him to the living room, only stopping to drop his school bag by the door. And there, sitting in the middle of his house, was the absolute last person he wanted to see at that moment.

“No,” Virgil declared, shaking his head. “No, why is he here?”

“Oh…” Patton’s smile faltered a bit as he glanced over at his husband, who Virgil hadn’t noticed was also in the room. “Logan, you didn’t—”

“Virgil! How wonderful to see you again!”

Before Patton could finish his sentence, Roman was right in front of the two. He grabbed Virgil's hands, not even caring when Virgil immediately tried to pull away.

“I didn’t know these two were your parents!” Roman continued, his gaze shifting off to the side. “To be honest, I just assumed  _ everyone  _ on earth had the last name Sanders.”

Virgil couldn’t even find the words to express what he was feeling anymore. He did, however, manage to pull his hands away from Roman. And eventually his attention settled on Logan, silently begging his father for an explanation.

Logan stood up from his place on the couch. “I see you two have already been acquainted, then,” he said. “Virgil, Roman is going to be staying with us while he’s here on earth.”

“But Dad—”

“We apologize for not telling you sooner. I understand that this is rather sudden,” Logan continued. He sighed, adjusting his glasses. “To be honest, I would have appreciated a little more warning myself. However, given the circumstances, we decided it would be best to—”

“We couldn’t just turn the principal down! I mean, we have a spare room for a reason, right?” Patton interjected. He put an arm around Roman's shoulders. “Besides, just look at him! Won’t it be nice to have Roman’s upbeat, lively energy around the house?”

The two looked at Virgil, both grinning widely. Virgil stared back at them for a moment before he scoffed, crossing his arms as he turned away a bit.

“If that’s all you’re after, we could’ve gotten ‘lively energy’ from a litter of kittens,” Virgil mumbled.

Logan sighed. “Virgil, we’ve been over this. You know your dad is allergic.”

Yeah, that was a slight problem.

“Puppies, then,” Virgil conceded.

Suddenly, Roman gasped. His eyes were shining again. “An absolutely  _ astounding _ idea, Virgil!” he exclaimed, as he suddenly reached forward to grab Virgil’s hands.

Virgil immediately pulled away from him. “Would you stop—”

“I  _ adore  _ puppies!” Roman continued, not seeming to notice or care that Virgil was saying something. Instead, he raised his wand. Virgil instinctively flinched as there was a flash of light.

Four puppies appeared in the center of the room. And all of them were barking their heads off. Not even Patton cooing over them was enough to make Virgil feel better.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” he mumbled, shaking his head.

How did this even work? Did Roman’s magic poof these things into existence, or did he effectively kidnap some poor puppies? And they had to take care of them now, didn’t they? God, Virgil didn’t even like dogs that much, and now they had four of them?? Roman had better be able to make food for them, too, or—  _ oh God were they shooting lasers out of their eyes _ ?!

Virgil ducked just in time as one of the puppies shot at him, leaving the laser to shatter a nearby picture frame.

He shot a glare up at Roman, who simply laughed feebly.

“Oops.”

“ _ Oops _ ?” Virgil repeated. “Is that seriously all you have to say for yourself?”

Roman started to respond, but before he could really get anywhere Logan cut him off with a sigh. He calmly picked up one of the other puppies, stopping it from chewing on the couch. The dog instead started playing with Logan’s tie, but the dark haired man didn’t seem to really mind.

“As you can see, Roman’s magic is… a little unpredictable at the moment,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses a bit. “Which is precisely why he’s here on earth. To learn magic someplace safer than his home dimension.”

“That’s right!” Patton chimed in. “So while he’s here, we’re gonna do our best to help him!”

It was the same explanation Roman had given Virgil. His parents really did just dump him on earth, huh?

“Why do we have to do that?” Virgil demanded. “Him being bad at magic isn’t our problem!”

“Virgil!” Logan scolded, but Patton stepped in front of him before he could continue.

“Come on, why don’t you lighten up a bit, kiddo?” Patton interjected. “Don’t you think it’s the perfect op-paw-tunity to shake things up around here?”

Patton held one of the puppies up as he spoke, smiling brightly. Though his smile faltered a bit as Virgil didn’t even react to his joke.

“Virgiiil,” he said, shoving the puppy into his face a little more. “Don’t act so  _ ruff _ ! You have to admit the puppies are cute, at least!”

And at that moment, the puppy in Patton’s arms shot off another laser. Virgil barely managed to duck out of the way, the laser singing a bit of his purple dyed hair.

Virgil had never been the biggest fan of dogs. Somehow he hated them even more now. 

“They’d be a lot cuter if they didn’t do  _ that _ …” he muttered, glaring over at Roman.

Roman, who had been unusually quiet. He wasn’t looking at Virgil, his gaze instead focused on the ground. Patton deflated a bit as well.

“Virgil,” Logan said. He put a hand on Patton’s shoulder, shifting to stand between the two. “Why don’t you help Roman set up his new room?” He jerked his head to the side a bit, in the general direction of a trunk in the corner of the room. A trunk that was so intricate and bedazzled it could only belong to Roman. Did this kid own anything somewhat normal? Probably not, if he was supposed to be some  _ prince _ . 

“But—”

“Virgil,” Logan repeated, his tone firmer. “Take Roman to his room.” His expression softened the tiniest bit. It was almost unnoticeable, but Virgil knew it was the best he would get from his father. “We will talk more once he’s settled in.”

Virgil shot a glance at Roman, who was still just  _ standing  _ there. Did he seriously not have anything to say for himself? Could he not even like… apologize for the lasers? Or do something about them?

Virgil wanted to protest more. But his father’s tone didn’t leave any room for argument. So instead, he simply sighed.

“Fine… let’s go, Princey.”

And Roman’s eyes instantly lit up.

“Wonderful!” he exclaimed.

Without even waiting for Virgil to move, Roman turned to run up the stairs. Completely abandoning his stuff in the process.

“H-hey!” Virgil protested. “You don’t even know where…” He cut himself off with a sigh. He honestly should’ve expected this, considering how their tour at the school went. Guess he had to get used to this now. It didn’t seem like Roman was going anywhere anytime soon, unfortunately.

But it was fine! He’d learn to manage.

That was what he tried to convince himself, anyway, as he dragged Roman’s trunk up the stairs singlehandedly. This… was going to be a long year.


	3. A Fateful Moonlit Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil wasn't prepared for any of this. He wants to get away, /away/. 
> 
> Unfortunately there's only so far he can go.

Getting Roman to the guest room took way longer than Virgil wanted it to.

Of course, he didn’t know how long it actually took. And in the grand scheme of his life, it was probably an infinitesimal amount of time. That was what his father would say, anyway, if Virgil tried to complain to him later. But that didn’t change the fact that it was  _ freaking annoying. _

Even just getting up the stairs with Roman’s giant trunk of stuff was harder than it really needed to be.

Gee, wouldn’t it be great? If there was some sort of  _ magic _ to help move heavy things??

Virgil had to assume there was, otherwise every piece of media with magic in it had lied to him. Which was not a reality Virgil was willing to accept. But even if there was such a spell, it certainly didn't mean Roman was going to actually help Virgil move  _ his own stuff _ . No, why would he do that?

Roman wasn’t even at the top of the stairs when Virgil finally made it. The prince must have decided that Virgil was simply taking  _ far _ too long, and had decided to wander around the second floor of the house. More than half of the rooms were open by the time Virgil made it upstairs. Which was… honestly almost impressive, considering he really hadn’t been up there unsupervised for that long.

Virgil didn’t really have time to appreciate that, however, instead having to abandon Roman’s trunk by the stairs in favor of rushing forward to stop Roman from opening the ladder to the attic directly onto his head.

“Don’t touch that!” he exclaimed, his voice coming out louder than he thought it would. He grabbed Roman’s arm and pulled him away from the string.

What kind of person’s first instinct was to pull on a mysterious string hanging from the ceiling? Virgil literally knew what was up there, and even he didn’t like touching that thing.

Roman didn’t seem overly disturbed by Virgil's outburst, at least. He didn’t even pull away from the other boy, instead looking back at him curiously.

“Why not?”

And suddenly his eyes lit up. Virgil already knew what that look meant. Roman had reached some sort of conclusion. One that was the most obvious thing to come to while also simultaneously being completely wrong.

“Ooh, does it perhaps lead to a forbidden secret passage?”

Huh. Well, maybe he wasn’t always wrong.

“Um. Yeah, I guess,” Virgil said, his arm falling back to his side.

Roman’s eyes somehow shined even brighter. It was enough that Virgil almost started to feel bad as he kept talking.

“I mean, it’s not actually forbidden. It’s just the attic,” he continued. “I don’t usually go up there, though. It’s not really exciting. Dad mostly uses it as extra storage space.”

Just because Virgil didn’t like going up there didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to.

“I see.” 

Roman had deflated a bit. Did... did he  _ want _ something dangerous to be up there?

Wait, that didn’t even matter right then. Virgil was trying to show him to the guest room.

“Dad can probably let you up there later, if you really care that much,” Virgil said, crossing his arms. “Can we keep going? The guest room is right down—”

Virgil didn’t even get the chance to finish his sentence. The second he had raised his hand to point toward the guest room, Roman was off once more. He practically ran down the hall, all the way to the last room on the left.

Well. At least he had the right room. But did he really need to leave Virgil with all of his stuff  _ again _ ?

Virgil let out a sigh, resigning himself to carrying Roman’s trunk all of the way to the guest room.

It was a pretty simple room. While Patton had always wanted to decorate it more, Logan had turned him down every time it was brought up. Saying that since they never really knew who was going to be staying there, it wouldn’t be wise to make the room overly personalized. It made perfect sense, and proved to be the right decision. A bunch of different people had stayed in that room before. Patton was really terrible at saying no to people… 

Still, though, it was a nice enough place to stay. Had a bed, dresser, lights, closet… all the basic essentials.

Roman was standing in the middle of the room, studying it like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Let’s see…” he murmured, clearly not even realizing Virgil had caught up to him. “I think I can work with this.”

And with that, Roman pulled out his wand.

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Wait, you better not—”

If Roman had even heard Virgil, he certainly didn't care. A golden energy swirled around him as he raised his wand.

“Sunlight Expansion Bomb!”

Roman slammed his wand downward in what looked like a practiced movement- though Virgil had a sneaking suspicion he was just making it up as he went- and the magical energy practically exploded all around them. A blinding light filled the room, a shock wave following not long after.

_ Bomb  _ was probably not the best choice of words on Roman's end...

Virgil instinctively covered his eyes as he stumbled back a bit.

God... what did Roman's spell even  _ do _ ?

Considering how terribly the rest of his magic seemed to go, Virgil was probably lucky that the room wasn't completely destroyed. And that he wasn't hurt. But he was too angry to actually focus on any positives, instead wondering  _ why the hell Roman didn't listen to him _ .

“You’ve got to stop doing that…” he mumbled, not even really registering that he was speaking out loud.

“What?” Roman asked. “I have to practice my magic  _ somehow _ , you know.”

Virgil still wasn’t ready to open his eyes again. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to glare at Roman through his arm. Apparently that was enough to get his point across, as Roman laughed lightly.

“Lighten up a bit, sunshine!” he said. “It looks  _ much _ better now, anyway.”

Virgil wasn’t sure if he did want to look. But the decision was made for him as Roman pulled his arm away from his eyes.

To Roman’s credit, the room wasn’t completely destroyed. But Virgil still wasn’t going to actually call it a room.

Roman had somehow managed to turn it into an entire  _ tower _ . The first thing that caught Virgil’s eyes was a fireplace on the other wall. Unless the magic made a chimney too, that was definitely a fire hazard, oh god Logan was going to be so mad when he saw that. It was right next to a wooden dresser, too, this was officially the most flammable place he had ever been.

Virgil really hoped that the dresser was empty. Otherwise carrying Roman's stuff up the stairs would’ve been absolutely worthless.

The walls were an absolute mess, lined with the weirdest assortment of things Virgil had seen in one room. A bunch of paintings, for one thing. One of the paintings seemed to be a family portrait. He had to assume the other two people in the painting were Roman's parents, at least. He wasn’t overly focused on the paintings, though. He was much more concerned with the  _ swords hanging on the wall _ . He really hoped those were for decoration, otherwise that was probably all kinds of illegal.

He had a closet.  _ Why did Virgil have to carry all of that damn stuff if he was just going to _ —

There was a spiral staircase in the center of the room, going high enough that Virgil wasn't quite sure what it led to. Hopefully a bed, since that was noticeably absent. That was kind of nice, honestly, though he wasn't sure if they had clearance for that.

And at least. There were still some things a normal room would have. Roman had given himself a desk. And there was a mirror on the wall, too, though Virgil was moderately concerned by all the weird symbols on it. Hopefully those didn't mean anything bad...

“I see I’ve rendered you speechless.”

Oh right. Roman was in the room. For once, Roman actually blended in with his surroundings.

“Well? Do you like it?” Roman prompted once more. He was looking up at Virgil, almost expectantly. 

“Sure,” Virgil said. He glanced over at the other boy for a moment, but quickly looked away again. “Anyway, I’ll uh… leave you to—”

“You really like it?” Roman’s eyes were shining. Not even waiting for an answer, he continued. “I could do your room, too!”

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Wait, please don't—”

He reached out to stop Roman just a second too late. Roman was already out the door. Virgil ran after him, but wasn't fast enough to stop the other boy from tearing open the door to the room right across the hall.

He was really lucky that was actually Virgil’s room.

Roman didn’t even notice Virgil was standing next to him. He was too focused on the room in front of them. It was clearly more personalized than the guest room was. It had a much darker overall aesthetic, complete with a few decorative cobwebs on the walls. It was way messier, too, but that was totally normal! The other room hadn’t been used for a while, and Virgil didn’t know anyone was coming. He definitely didn’t know someone would just  _ barge into his room like this _ .

“Well…” Roman mumbled, mostly talking to himself. “It’s certainly not a look I would go for, personally…” He eyed Virgil slightly. “But let’s see what I can do."

“Roman, don’t—”

Virgil wasn’t sure why he bothered trying to stop Roman. Before he could even finish his sentence, Roman held up his wand once more.

“Black Hole Revamp!”

And a vast void appeared in the center of Virgil's room.

A fully functioning black hole. In the middle of his bedroom.

The two barely managed to pull the door closed before getting sucked in with the rest of his room.

Virgil immediately fell back against his door, breathing heavily.

“What the  _ hell _ were you thinking?!” he demanded, glaring up at Roman. “Black hole??  _ Seriously _ ?”

“So I can admit that may not have been the  _ best _ choice of words,” Roman said. He twirled his wand in his hand, focusing on that instead of Virgil. “Let me try something else. Perhaps if I just—”

“Stop waving that thing around so carelessly! Don’t you think you’ve caused  _ enough _ trouble?” Virgil shouted, shooting to his feet.

Roman fell silent.

Virgil groaned. He turned away from Roman as well, in favor of banging his head against the door. God, that was probably going to be a nightmare to fix. If they even  _ could _ fix it. It would probably need a magical solution, and the one person who was actually capable of that was completely incompetent. Not to mention extremely unhelpful.

And Virgil was going to be stuck with him for an entire year...

“Virgil, I… I didn’t intend to cause any harm,” Roman said, finally looking over at him. “I simply wanted to—”

“Stop talking.”

Virgil was officially ready for the black hole to take him away into the void. Why couldn’t it get past the door?

“Don’t be like that!” Roman scolded. “I can fix it, Virgil, I promise! So why not give me a smile?”

Virgil glanced over at Roman with an absolutely deadpan expression. 

Roman’s smile faltered. But it was almost unnoticeable as he clapped his hands together.

“How about a little bit of sunshine? That always brightens my day!”

Roman waved his wand once more. And a bright, almost cartoon-ish sun appeared over Virgil’s head. 

He didn’t look up at it. And he didn’t even react when thunder suddenly rumbled above him, as the sun faded into a dark storm cloud.

Now he was wet, too. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to care.

“That, uh… that’s not supposed to happen," Roman laughed feebly. He shook his wand a bit, glancing down at it for a moment before his attention fell back on Virgil. “I’m… actually not entirely sure how that  _ did  _ happen. Hold on, let me—”

“How many times do I have to tell you to  _ stop _ ?” Virgil demanded, whirling around to glare at Roman once more. “You’re just going to make things worse.”

Roman’s smile faltered. “Virgil…” he said, reaching out to put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

Virgil immediately shoved him away. “Don’t touch me! Just leave me alone already!”

He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he turned and ran. Down the stairs, out of the house. And he didn’t stop there.

He honestly wasn’t sure where he was going. Or what he was hoping to accomplish. He just needed to get  _ away _ .

He couldn’t deal with this any more. All he wanted was to have a normal year for once. Get through his sophomore year of high school without any major problems. But all of his hopes had been completely shattered before he even really got a chance. All because of this stupid kid who showed up out of absolutely nowhere. Without any warning or explanation. 

How did this even happen? Out of everywhere on earth, Roman ended up here. In this stupid small town in  _ Florida _ , of all places. It was a place no one would really pay attention to, yet somehow some magical prince ended up there. And beyond even that, out of everyone in town, he ended up with  _ Virgil _ .

_ It wasn’t fair _ .

Virgil wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, his mind spiraling too far down to focus on anything else. But he also wasn’t overly surprised when he found himself in the nearby park. It wasn’t the first time he had ended up here like this.

The instant he registered where he was, he flopped face down onto the grass. 

God… what was he doing? It was already dark out. The park was completely empty, except for him. It was probably closed. He was definitely not supposed to be here. 

And beyond even that… his parents must have been super worried. He shouldn’t have left without saying anything. But he just couldn't stand to stay at home any longer. 

He didn’t even have his phone on him. So that ruled out just… calling them to explain where he went. It would probably be best to just go back home… but he  _ really  _ wasn’t ready to do that. He could also technically go to a friend’s house for the night, but the idea of showing up on Elliot’s doorstep with zero explanation and a literal storm cloud over his head didn’t exactly appeal to him, either. 

Was sleeping on the ground in the park legally allowed…? It wasn’t exactly a  _ good _ option, but it was the one that appealed to him the most at that moment.

Anything to avoid having to see Roman for even just one more night.

“Virgil?”

Nope. No. He wasn't going to look at him. There was no way he was actually there.

“Go away.”

How did Roman even find him? Did he follow him or something?

Roman didn’t say anything. But Virgil also didn't hear him walk away.

And after a moment, Virgil realized there wasn't rain falling on him any more.

He opened his eyes, slowly sitting up. The storm cloud was gone. And Roman was there, standing in front of him. He must’ve gotten rid of it somehow...

Roman wouldn’t meet Virgil’s gaze. Instead, his emerald eyes were focused somewhere a bit off to the side.

“I realize that this must be… a lot for you to take in,” Roman said softly. He was spinning his wand in his hand again, clearly absentmindedly. “But it’s not exactly easy for  _ me _ , either. I… didn’t get much warning before coming here, you know.” 

Virgil straightened up a bit more. 

Roman was clearly hesitant to continue. He probably wanted Virgil to say something. Virgil himself wanted to as well, but somehow he couldn’t find his voice at all. 

Eventually, Roman sighed. 

“I suppose what I’m trying to say is…” he said, turning away from Virgil even more. “You were right earlier. This isn’t your problem.  _ I’m  _ not your problem. And… if you truly don’t want me here, I can find somewhere else to stay.”

Virgil stared up at him for a moment. Roman looked… upset. Which was strange to see. And Virgil didn’t like that for some reason. Just because… he didn’t like seeing anyone sad. It almost felt worse than usual though. Probably because it was  _ his fault _ .

He had to try to explain himself… He owed Roman that, at least.

Virgil sighed as he stood up. “Roman…”

He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to say. Wasn’t even sure why he felt compelled to say anything at all. But luckily he didn’t need to figure it out.

“Uhh… Princey?”

Virgil’s eyes widened as he took a bit of a step back. His gaze was completely focused on something past Roman, as what looked like… an overly sharp pair of scissors tore through the space behind Roman. The dark night sky faded into complete nothingness, as a portal with a green outline cut through the sky.

“What?” Roman asked, turning around as well.

And the two watched as creatures Virgil had never seen before emerged from the portal. Beings that he could only classify as  _ monsters _ . One had two heads, others had the wrong number of eyes or arms, or both, and absolutely none of them looked quite  _ right _ . Yet somehow what caught his attention the most was the last person out of the portal. A normal human boy.

Well, no. Not human. It was clear the boy was from Ryulix as well, whatever that species was called. He had marks on his cheeks as well, silvery crescent moons in place of Roman’s golden stars. But other than that, the two looked practically identical. The few differences between the two seemed almost deliberate and unnatural. A bit of grey dye in his hair, as much as a mustache as someone who was clearly a teenager could actually grow, and dark eyeshadow around glowing red eyes. Even their outfits were similar, though where Roman’s outfit was red and white, the newcomer’s was green and black. 

Oh, and he was holding a mace. That was. Rather noteworthy as well.

Virgil took another wary step back.

Roman, on the other hand, looked completely unimpressed.

“Oh,” he said dully, resting a hand on his hip.

Roman didn’t say anything else, instead watching as the boy stepped to the front of the crowd of monsters. He was twirling his mace the same way Roman would spin his wand. Virgil was almost impressed that someone could be even  _ more _ careless than Roman in that regard.

“ _ Oh _ ,” the boy repeated, before bursting out laughing. He stopped just inches away from Roman, as Virgil backed away even more. “Eloquent as always, little prince.” He leaned in impossibly closer. “Did someone miss me?” 

Roman didn’t even flinch, instead glaring at the other boy a bit. 

“What are you doing here?” Roman demanded.

The boy simply laughed harder as he took a bit of a step back. “Gods, you’re so boring! Brighten up a bit, Ro-Ro! It’s been so long, aren’t you happy to see me again?”

Virgil wanted to run. They  _ should _ run, shouldn’t they? Why was Roman just standing there? 

Roman scoffed, turning away from him a bit. “You know, Remus,” he said. “This isn’t the best time for this. I have actually important things to attend to.”

Roman shot the boy- shot  _ Remus _ \- a pointed look. One that Remus completely ignored as he rolled his eyes.

“So rude. And after I came all this way  _ just _ to see you, too,” he commented, not actually sounding all that offended. “What could  _ possibly _ be more important than seeing your big brother again?”

Virgil’s eyes widened a bit.

“Your what?”

The brothers both turned to Virgil, the red eyed boy clearly only just noticing he was there. His eyes widened a bit in realization.

“Oh, shit! That would do it!” Remus laughed. His attention on Virgil was brief, as he looked back at Roman almost immediately. “Roman, you should’ve just told me I was interrupting your date!”

Virgil’s face went red. He instinctively pulled up his hood.

“Remus!” Roman snapped. “I—”

“No no, it’s fine!” Remus said. He smirked, eyeing Virgil once more. “You’re right, he does look more important.”

Roman was starting to blush a bit as well. “Re—”

“Don’t worry, I understand!” Remus's smirk turned into something more sinister. “Guess I’ll have to make this quick.”

Roman visibly relaxed a bit as Remus turned away from him. He swung the mace over his shoulder, once again with complete disregard for his own safety.

“It’s a shame, though...” Remus muttered. “I was looking forward to this…” 

“If you’re not going to leave, then get to the point!” Roman said. “You’re not even supposed to be here! If Father finds out, then—” 

“What? I’ll get in trouble?” Remus laughed. “I think you got that covered for the both of us! Isn’t that how you ended up here in the first place?” 

Roman’s expression quickly shifted to a glare. It was an expression that Virgil hadn’t thought possible from the prince. And he did  _ not  _ like it. 

“Shut up!” Roman shouted. “You have absolutely  _ no _ right to say that to me. If you had never—”

Roman took a deep breath, cutting himself off. He quickly shot a glance at Virgil as his glare faded a bit. 

“Remus, I’m serious. Get out of here.” 

“If I had never what, Roman?” Remus said. He was smiling almost casually, as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with this situation. “It’s important to finish your sentences, you know.” 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t pretend like you don’t.” 

“Pretend?” Remus repeated, almost looking offended. “No no… I would  _ never  _ do that! Gosh… I thought you knew me better than that,  _ brother. _ ” 

Roman didn’t say anything. 

“So please, do tell me. What. Did. I. Do?” 

Remus had started pacing, twirling his mace in his hand again. Yet he never moved from his place between Roman and the small army of monsters. Monsters who looked ready to attack at any moment. 

Virgil shrunk under their glares a bit.

Roman still stood his ground, his harsh expression locked onto his brother.

“Because from what I remember… you were the one who got yourself stuck here,” Remus continued. “ _ You’re _ the one who couldn’t handle his new power and responsibilities, leaving Daddy with no choice but to send you away so you could learn to behave again.” He laughed. “Well, it makes sense when you think about it! After all, that wand was never meant to be yours in the first place.” 

Remus turned to face Roman once more, his grin twisting into something a bit more sinister. 

Roman’s breathing had sped up a bit. His hands were clenched tight, knuckles turning white against his wand. But he still didn’t flinch as Remus pointed his mace directly at him. 

“It’s clear this is all just  _ too much _ for you to handle,” Remus said. “So why not just— gah!!” 

Remus’s mace clattered to the ground, as he instinctively held his hand up to his head. And a decently sized rock fell right next to it.

“Roman!” Virgil exclaimed, running up to grab the boy’s arm. He tugged on Roman’s sleeve a bit. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

Roman blinked. “Virgil…” he said, his eyes wide as he looked at the purple haired boy. “Did… did you just throw a rock at him?”

_ That  _ was what Roman had to say?  _ Seriously _ ? 

“Umm. Yes?” 

“That was a bit uncalled for.” 

“What.”

“He wasn’t done talking, you know,” Roman added.

Virgil finally let go of Roman’s sleeve. He eyed Remus wearily. “Is… was he not going to attack you?"

Had he just misread the situation? Was this some totally normal sibling thing he had completely ruined? He didn’t have a sibling, so maybe he just— 

“No, I was totally going to attack him,” Remus supplied, as he rubbed his head. 

Oh. So this wasn’t normal, then. That honestly made Virgil feel a little better.

Remus glanced over at Roman. “This one’s a keeper, Ro.” He smirked. “He must be a  _ great  _ pitcher.”

Roman’s face immediately went red. “Remus! Stop talking!” he snapped, shooting his brother a quick glare before turning his attention back to Virgil. “While I appreciate your concern, I had the situation under control, Virgil.”

Virgil blinked. “You were literally just standing there. And he has a  _ freaking mace _ .”

“Morning star,” Roman corrected absentmindedly, even though Virgil couldn’t care less. “And I had to let him finish, you know! I’m sure he practiced that, you know it’s rude to—”

Virgil groaned. “God, are you even hearing yourself?” he demanded. “Literally never let a villain monologue, haven’t you ever seen a movie? You’re so irre—” 

“Are you two done?” Remus interjected, slowly picking up his morning star again. He sighed. “Nothing like a lovers quarrel to ruin a night out…”

Roman and Virgil both instantly shifted their glares to Remus.

“We’re not—”

“I hate to cut your little show short… but you  _ did _ want to finish quickly, right Ro-Ro? And since you’re not going to do this the  _ easy _ way…” Remus continued, interrupting the two. His grin had returned, as he swung his morning star over his shoulder. “Looks like we’ll get to have some fun!”

And the monsters that were lying in wait behind him suddenly sprang to life. All of them immediately charged toward Roman and Virgil.

“Don’t worry, Virgil!” Roman said immediately, as he moved in front of the purple haired boy protectively. He held his wand out in front of him. “I can…”

Roman’s voice trailed off as Virgil decked the nearest monster in the face. A one eyed cat thing that had gotten way too close to Roman without the prince even noticing.

“Pay attention, doofus!” Virgil shouted. “You’re going to get yourself killed at this rate.” 

Roman was still not paying attention. Instead his entire focus was on Virgil's still clenched fist, his eyes shining.

“You know how to fight?”

“Nope,” Virgil said. He kicked another monster to the ground, fueled by pure adrenaline and instinct. He glanced back at Roman over his shoulder and smirked. “So what does that say about you?”

Roman stared at him for a moment before laughing lightly. “Just you wait…” he said, raising his wand. “Sunlight Burst!” 

Roman swung his wand downward. A burst of golden magic exploded around him, shoving a couple of monsters that had gotten too close out of the way. It also floofed his hair up a bit, but Virgil didn’t have time to tease him for that as Roman quickly prepared another spell. 

And as Roman raised his wand once more, it became immediately clear to Virgil that this?  _ This _ was the kind of magic the prince was actually good at. 

It was honestly amazing to watch him. He waved the wand in what was clearly practiced movements, casting spells he must have cast dozens of times before. Spells that actually  _ worked _ . With a few Rainbow Blasts and Strawberry Bombs, spells that were  _ way _ more effective than they sounded, the monsters didn’t stand a chance against Roman. He didn’t even  _ need  _ his spells to attack, either, proving to be decent enough at close combat if anything got too close to him.

Not that Virgil was going to let the prince show him up. While he had never actually studied self defence before, the combination of watching way too many movies and his self preservation instincts was enough for him to not die. The monsters they were fighting were… surprisingly uncoordinated. It was easy for him to throw them off, just by side stepping their attacks. Which was practically trivial to do, since dodging was something Virgil  _ did  _ have experience with. 

Also… it didn’t hurt that Roman… was pretty easy to fight alongside. 

Having Roman by his side just felt  _ right  _ to Virgil. The two didn’t even need to say anything to each other to know exactly what the other was going to do next. Virgil was able to trip a monster into Roman’s line of fire without hesitation. And Roman, in turn, was quick to notice when a monster would try to sneak up on Virgil, immediately aiming his next spell that way to protect the human. 

Even when the two were knocked to the ground, they were quick to recover. And while Virgil was ready to charge forward again, Roman instead pulled the purple haired boy behind him a bit. 

“Stay there,” he instructed in a hushed tone. 

“Ro, what—” 

But Roman simply laughed a bit, giving Virgil a bit of a smile before turning his attention back to the monsters in front of them. 

“Astronomic Nova Blast!”

The stars on his cheeks shone as brightly as the ones in the sky. He traced a half circle in the air with his wand, before holding it out in front of him. 

An explosion of color burst out from the crown in the center of the wand, a rainbow of stars showering down in front of them. 

It was one of the most beautiful things Virgil had ever seen. And the most  _ destructive  _ as well. Any monster that was left standing after the bulk of their fight certainly wasn’t now. Virgil was  _ very _ glad that Roman had pulled him out of the way… 

“You know you could’ve led with that one…” Virgil mumbled, not sounding quite as bitter as he was trying to. 

Roman simply laughed, smiling back at Virgil over his shoulder. “Well, where’s the fun in that?” 

And as the smoke in front of them cleared, in the center of the carnage was Remus. Despite mostly staying out of the fight, he hadn’t managed to avoid that last attack. He slowly pushed himself up, only to find Roman standing over him.

“Ready to give up yet?” Roman asked, almost conversationally. He didn’t even look like he was just in the middle of a fight, his wand hanging lazily at his side.

Remus didn’t say anything.

Roman simply shrugged. “Suit yourself, then.”

He raised his wand, holding it directly in his brother’s face. Magical energy swirled around the golden, sun shaped head of the magical artifact.

And Roman flicked Remus's forehead.

“Gah- Roman!!” Remus complained. He shot to his feet, glaring at Roman. “The fuck was that for?”

“I warned you!” Roman laughed. “Now, you better get out of here while you still can. Because there’s more where that came from."

Roman wiggled his fingers in Remus’s face. Apparently that was a bigger threat than having a  _ wand in his face _ , as Remus recoiled back a bit.

“Fine, fine!” Remus said, before smiling. “This was fun, though! We should do this again sometime!”

“I’d actually prefer if we did not,” Roman commented.

Remus simply shrugged. He reached into his pocket, pulling out the scissors from earlier. He tore through the sky once more, opening up a new portal. “Your loss. But you know…” Remus glanced back at Roman over his shoulder. He was still smiling. Yet somehow his expression was absolutely unreadable. “I intend to get that wand back, Roman. No matter what it takes.”

Roman let out a laugh. “In your dreams, perhaps,” he said, waving his hand dismissively. 

“You can't keep fighting me forever!” Remus said. “If it wasn’t for these losers, I could’ve gone on all night…”

He shot the monsters a bit of a glare. Monsters that were currently filing into the portal in what was honestly a bit of a pathetic display.

Roman simply rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Remus,” he said, before glaring up at his brother. “Now get out of here already.”

He raised his wand once more.

The finger wiggling still proved to be a more effective threat, as Remus simply rolled his eyes as well. “I’m already leaving, no need to be so pushy.”

His annoyed expression quickly faded back into a grin as he looked over at Virgil. “Nice to meet you, little nightmare!” he said, waving. Virgil stiffened a bit, not prepared to be addressed. “Make sure he doesn’t, like, die or something before I get back!!”

And Virgil, at an absolute loss for what else to do, gave him a thumbs up. That was probably the stupidest thing he could’ve done in that situation, but Remus was already gone.

Virgil and Roman stood in silence for a moment, until Virgil cleared his throat.

“So... that was…”

Strange? Frightening? Exhilarating? Maybe actually a little bit cool? Probably the most interesting thing that had ever happened to him? Really amazing, even, seeing Roman do magic like that?

“Something.”

Roman sighed, giving Virgil an apologetic smile. “Yes, my brother certainly is something, isn’t he?”

Both fell silent once more. This time Roman was the one to break it, as he sighed, turning away from Virgil.

“He’s rather persistent,” he said. “And now that he somehow knows where I am, he’s not going to leave me alone. Which is just... another thing you would have to worry about if I stayed.”

Virgil's eyes widened a bit. He had almost forgotten about their earlier conversation. Roman… was actually going to leave.

He couldn’t honestly say that he liked Roman. He couldn’t even say that he wanted him around. But the idea of kicking him out... was never an option in his mind. Especially after what had just happened, there was no way he could let Roman deal with that alone.

There was no denying it would take some time to get used to this. To get used to  _ him _ . But if Roman left, he’d never get the chance to even try.

And if nothing else… having him around was going to be interesting. 

“Roman, wait,” Virgil said, reaching out toward the prince a bit. “I… haven’t really been fair to you. Getting thrown in another dimension must be super weird, and I…” He sighed. “Do you want to just. Start over, maybe?” 

Virgil held out his hand.

Roman stared at him for a moment. “You… actually want me to stay?”

“I… don’t want you to leave?” Virgil said, mentally trying to convince himself that there was actually a difference.

Roman’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Virgil!” he exclaimed.

And instead of just shaking Virgil’s hand like a normal person, Roman threw his arms around the human.

Virgil stumbled back a bit and quickly shoved Roman off of him. “Yeah, no,” Virgil said, taking an extra step back. “That’s not happening.”

“Oh…” Roman said, taking a step away from Virgil as well. “Not an earth custom, then. I understand.” 

But Roman just… he looked so disappointed, Virgil couldn’t take it anymore.

“It’s not that, it’s just…” Virgil sighed. “Ask permission next time, maybe?”

Roman’s eyes were shining again. “Can I hug you, stormcloud?” 

Huh. When was the last time someone had given him a nickname like that…? 

“I… guess so.”

And once again, Roman practically tackled Virgil. And while Virgil didn’t return the hug… he couldn’t hide his slight smile.

The two stayed like that for a moment, before Virgil gently pushed Roman away. “Come on, we should get home. My parents must be freaking out…” 

Roman laughed feebly. “Oh, right. I was actually supposed to tell you they were worried. I suppose it slipped my mind.” 

“Smooth,” Virgil commented. 

He brushed past Roman to head back home, trusting the prince to follow after him. Roman didn’t follow him quietly, of course. 

“Well, can you blame me?” Roman said, before going off into a detailed recollection of what had happened moments prior. 

While Virgil mostly tuned him out, since he literally lived through it alongside Roman and didn’t need to hear the story again, he had to admit that it was nice to not be alone with his thoughts. Roman seriously never ran out of things to say, did he? Virgil wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that, but in that moment it was  _ definitely  _ a positive. Virgil let Roman’s voice drown out his thoughts as the two walked home under the moonlight. 


	4. Out of Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oop i still exist yay 
> 
> sorry for not updating for a while, I got a bit sick and then had a toooon of work to do. but i'm back!! and can hopefully stick to an upload schedule for more than two weeks!! 
> 
> hope you enjoy ^^

Patton and Logan were on top of them basically the moment they walked through the door.

Well. They were on top of Virgil, at least.

Roman stood in the doorway, watching as Patton threw his arms around his son before Virgil even finished announcing their presence. Logan was not too far behind Patton, hovering a bit behind his husband as he fussed over their son. The puppies quickly gathered around as well, though the Sanders didn’t seem to really notice that fact.

Patton and Logan were even more worried than when Roman left them, which was honestly impressive a little. He couldn’t exactly blame them, though. He and Virgil both looked absolutely dreadful, thanks to their encounter with his brother. Virgil even more so, since he was still slightly damp from the storm cloud.

Oops.

If Roman had been thinking straight, he probably would’ve suggested they clean up a bit before heading home. Now Logan and Patton were going to ask what had happened, and while he was more than happy to regale the tale over and over with  _ Virgil _ , Roman wasn’t exactly sure if that was something he wanted to share with the boy’s parents.

But surprisingly enough, neither of them asked any questions at all. They were both more focused on the fact that Virgil- and Roman- were alright. And once that was confirmed, Virgil quickly excused himself to go up to bed.

For lack of anything better to do, Roman did the same. He hurried up the stairs after Virgil. He followed the purple haired boy all the way to the end of the hall, a little surprised when the human went into Roman’s room instead of his own. And while he didn’t comment on it, he did break his silence the second he closed the door behind them.

“Are we really not going to tell them?”

Virgil simply shrugged, thankfully getting what Roman meant despite his lack of elaboration. “They didn’t ask.”

“Still, though…”

Virgil snickered, plopping himself down on the staircase instead of one of the many actual places to sit in the room. “What, need an excuse to brag about your  _ amazing _ magic some more?”

Roman shot him a glare. “First off, it is not  _ bragging _ if it’s an accurate retelling of events.”

Virgil scoffed. “If you say so.”

“And  _ secondly _ ,” Roman continued, his voice a little louder as he talked over Virgil. “I simply believe they have a right to know what happened. That’s all.”

“You realize I’m not stopping you, right? You can do whatever you want.” Virgil pointed out, somehow lounging on the stairs even more. That couldn’t possibly be comfortable. “Can’t say I get why you’re so intent on telling them, though. It’s not like it’s that big of a deal…”

Roman let out a bit of a groan, turning away from Virgil. Gods… why didn’t he understand? This  _ was _ a big deal.  _ Remus wasn’t supposed to be there.  _ He wasn’t going to tell Virgil’s parents by himself, though, that would be weird! No matter how badly he needed to tell  _ someone _ , he wasn’t going to tell Patton and Logan without Virgil’s permission. Which left him in a rather unfortunate position as he started pacing his room. 

Virgil was still talking to him, not that Roman actually registered what the other boy was saying. He was too busy focusing on what the heck he was supposed to do, only snapping out of his thoughts as his gaze fell on his own reflection in the mirror across his room. 

Oh. That was certainly someone he could tell. Maybe not about Remus, but… talking to him couldn’t hurt. 

Completely tuning out Virgil’s questions of what he was doing, Roman made his way over to the mirror. Putting his hand on the center of the glass, he closed his eyes.

Almost immediately, the symbols on the edges of the mirror started to glow, reflecting the light on the stars on his cheeks. And as the light got brighter and brighter, the image in the mirror started shifting into something different.

The glass now depicted a room rather similar to Roman’s own, even mirroring some of the paintings on the walls. The only real notable difference was the reflected room was completely empty.

Roman opened his eyes slowly, almost hesitantly. When his gaze met the vacant room, he let out a sigh.

“Well… so much for that,” he mumbled, letting his hand fall back to his side. The magic swirling around him faded away, the image in the mirror shifting back to his own reflection.

Virgil’s reflection, too. The purple haired boy was standing behind him now, apparently.

Roman jumped.

“Virgil!!” he exclaimed, whirling around to glare at the human. “Don’t sneak up on me, you little nightmare!”

“What was that?” Virgil asked, not even bothering to apologize.

“Oh…” Roman said, his glare fading a bit. He briefly glanced back at the mirror over the shoulder, before shaking his head a bit. “It’s nothing. I was simply trying to reach my father. But it appears he’s unavailable at the moment.”

Not that Roman could blame his dad, of course.

Virgil blinked. “You’re trying to talk to your dad… with a mirror?”

“Yes?” Roman replied, tilting his head a bit. “Is… there another way to contact someone far away here on earth?”

Virgil stared back at him for a moment. “Yeah.”

Roman’s eyes immediately lit up, but before he could get to say anything Virgil interjected.

“Nope!! No, not going into that tonight!” he declared, waving his hands a bit. His gaze shifted away from Roman. “Definitely… do not have the energy for that conversation…”

“Oh.” Roman deflated a bit. His smile returned not even a second later, though, as he took a bit of a step closer to Virgil. Virgil quickly backed away from him, but Roman didn’t really notice. “So, what do you want to do now, then?”

Virgil looked back up at him. “Sleep…?”

Roman gasped. “What?!” he said, loud enough that Virgil flinched away from him. “Come now, you can’t be serious!” He threw his arm around the shorter boy, completely oblivious to his protests. “The night is still young, my friend. We should do something fun, to celebrate our triumph over my brother!”

“Not happening,” Virgil said dryly, shoving Roman’s arm off his shoulders. “Nothing stopping you from staying up, but I’m going to bed. We have school in the morning, you know.”

Roman blinked. “We had school today, though.”

Virgil sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Oh, God…” he mumbled, before focusing back on Roman. “Yeah, uh… school is kinda an everyday thing here, bud.”

Roman stared back at him blankly. That… seemed really inconvenient. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to daily lessons, but at least those were at his home! Not at a whole different building! Even the normal schools near him had places for the students to live…

“But we don’t live there,” Roman said eventually.

“No…?” Virgil replied. “I mean, sometimes Dad works really late and it  _ feels _ like he lives there, but it’s not really—”

“Do we have to travel there daily, then?”

“I mean, yeah,” Virgil said. “Like I said though, Dad works there, and it’s pretty close, so like—”

“If we go daily why don’t we live there?”

To Roman, that was the most obvious solution. If you went somewhere every day, why travel back and forth when you could just stay there? Yet for some reason Virgil looked like he was starting to get annoyed with him.

Virgil groaned. “We just don’t, okay?” He sighed. “Look, if you really care that much, I’m sure my father would love to give you a run down of the American public education system in the morning. Can I just go to sleep now?”

Really, why was Virgil so annoyed?

“I’m not stopping you,” Roman said.

Virgil didn’t say anything for a moment, instead staring at Roman like he was an idiot. Like he was missing something glaringly obvious. Which was impossible, of course!

“You turned my room into a black hole.”

Oh.

“ _ Right _ !” Roman exclaimed, his voice a lot louder than he expected it to come out. He let out a feeble laugh, glancing down at his wand. “I’ll, umm… just a moment.”

Fixing Virgil’s room didn’t take that long. Roman didn’t really know what he was doing, but apparently  _ Sunlight Expansion Bomb _ could make any room he wanted if he concentrated hard enough. He was honestly pretty lucky that worked, since after that he was going to be out of ideas. And hey, that would probably be helpful information to have for the future. So it was a good thing he got to test that out!

Virgil wasn’t as excited as he was, though. Didn’t even thank him at all- which was rather rude, if you asked Roman. Instead he kept pushing away all of Roman’s attempts at conversation, insisting that he needed to go to sleep. Eventually, the prince ended up getting a door slammed in his face, with the resounding click of a lock signaling he definitely was not going to get anything else out of Virgil for the night. Patton and Logan were still awake, so Roman could probably go speak to them instead. But not wanting to go all the way back stairs and interrupt whatever they were doing, he instead retreated back into his new room. And somehow, he found himself standing in front of his mirror once again. 

He stared at the mirror for a moment, before taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes and reached out his hand, feeling the energy swirl around him. 

“Please…” he muttered under his breath, before slowly opening his eyes. 

Only to be met with a vacant room once more. 

He let out a sigh as he flopped back to sit on the ground. Even though he wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed as the image in front of him faded back into his own reflection. Nevertheless, he smiled as he looked up at his reflection. 

“Hello Mother, Father!” he said, giving a bit of a wave. “Finally getting a chance to settle down for the night. Today was a bit hectic, but…” He chuckled lightly, his gaze shifting to the side a bit. “Well, here we are.” 

He didn’t say anything for a moment, almost hoping that something would change. That someone else could break the silence. 

“I think…” he said eventually, still not looking back up at the mirror. “It’s going to be nice, staying here. A wonderful family took me in. And they even have a son my age! I can already tell we’re going to get along  _ splendidly _ .” 

He had started smiling a bit as he talked about the Sanders family. But his expression faltered a bit as he finally looked up at his reflection. 

“Hopefully… you can meet them soon.” 

He was met with silence. 

“I should probably head to sleep now!” he declared, suddenly standing up. “It was a busy day, after all. Oh- I’m sure you two were busy as well, of course.” 

His gaze flickered over to one of the paintings hanging on the wall. The one of him and his parents. A perfect royal family. 

“Don’t worry… I’ll be back to help you in no time,” he said, under his breath. He closed his eyes and reached out to the mirror again, this time resting his head on the glass as well. “Things will be easier here. I’ll learn my magic, and be back home before you know it. I promise.” 

And even though he knew his words couldn’t reach his parents, something in Roman hoped that  _ somehow _ , his message and feelings would. 

_ He would be home soon _ . 

“I’ll talk to you two tomorrow. I love you.” 

And with that finally off his chest, Roman managed to settle down to sleep for the night.

*** 

Roman wasn’t sure how much sleep he actually ended up getting. It felt like he had only just fallen asleep when Patton came through his door the next morning. He was smiling as always- a smile that was astonishingly bright, considering how early it was- coming to call him down for breakfast.

They ate around the table as a family. It was honestly nice, getting to share a meal with them. It was something that he had missed out the night before. Seeing the way even Virgil seemed to lighten up a bit as his dad cracked jokes. Logan was a pretty good cook, too, so even a simple breakfast tasted  _ amazing _ . Besides, maybe waking up would prove to be a good thing. He could try to call his parents again, get started on learning some magic, or maybe even—

Go to school. Right. That was a thing they apparently had to do here.

Well, no matter. School hadn’t been that bad the day before, and there was plenty of time afterwards as well! He just had to stick with Virgil, and everything would be fine. 

But then… Virgil completely abandoned him almost the instant Logan led them through the doors, saying something about how he was going to find his friends. Which was a minor setback, maybe, but he still had Logan! Logan… who led him in the complete opposite direction. 

Logan didn’t stop talking as they walked. He was probably saying something important, but Roman just couldn’t bring himself to focus on it at all. Not when there were so many new people around, despite the early hour. They all looked so… different from the people he was used to seeing back home. There were also so  _ many  _ of them. Despite the fact that this place was probably smaller than their family castle, he had already seen more people than he’d see in a  _ day  _ back home before lunchtime.

He was so engrossed in the people around him, it took him a moment to notice that Logan had disappeared into one of the classrooms. A classroom that had to belong to Logan himself, judging by all of the boring posters that lined the walls. 

The one that stood out to him the most was a poster that read  _ If at first you don’t succeed, try doing what your English teacher told you to do the first time.  _ The poster was mostly black and white, with a few of the words highlighted in a vibrant blue.

That  _ had  _ to belong to Logan. 

But he didn’t really get time to think about it. Because Logan was still talking, explaining the details of the class schedule, and all the different courses he would be taking. It seemed to be a relatively strict schedule, if how many words Logan was saying was anything to go off of. It wasn’t like he was a stranger to a strict schedule, though. It would probably be fine. Logan finished talking to him sooner than his mother would when she was giving him the schedule for the day, so that was a good sign at least! And once Logan finished talking, he led Roman across the school once more, to another classroom he was never going to be able to find on his own. 

Virgil was in this new classroom. That was the only thing that immediately stood out to Roman. His eyes lit up when he saw his friend, even though Virgil hadn’t noticed him yet. Roman didn’t mind that Virgil hadn’t noticed him, though, since the purple haired boy was deep in conversation with a couple other students. A boy with a checkered shirt and and a red cap, and a kid with short dark hair and equally dark clothing. Virgil was sitting on the boy’s desk, because apparently he was incapable of sitting in a normal chair.

Roman had actually never seen him sit in a chair before, now that he was thinking about it. Was there even a reason for that?

“Kai, what have I told you about wearing that hat in school?” Logan said with a sigh, as he led Roman to the three in the back.

The kids jumped, obviously not expecting to be interrupted. Virgil even looked a little annoyed. The dark haired kid turned in the other direction, as if to not be associated. And the boy- Kai, apparently- just grinned up at Logan.

“Well you’ve  _ told  _ me not to,” he said. He rested his head on his hand. “How many times have I listened to you, though, Mr. Sanders?”

Logan didn’t react as negatively to that as Roman thought he would. In fact, the teacher didn’t really react at all.

“As long as we’re clear,” was all Logan said, before shifting his focus onto his son. “Virgil, I have to get back to my classroom. Can I trust that you three won’t let anything happen to him?”

Virgil didn’t respond verbally, instead just giving his father a two-fingered salute. That seemed to be enough for Logan, as he nodded.

“Thank you,” he said, before looking back at Roman. “Roman, you know where to find me if you need anything.”

Roman was about to say that he very much did  _ not _ , but before he could say anything Logan was already on the other side of the room. And Kai was standing in front of him.

“So… you’re the alien, huh?” he said, slowly studying Roman. 

“I’m sorry?” Roman took a staggered step back.

“He looks way more human than I thought he would,” the kid on the other side of Virgil commented, tilting their head a bit. “Without those stars, he’d look totally normal.”

Kai scoffed. “Not with these clothes,” he said, grabbing at Roman’s sleeve. Not letting go of Roman’s clothes, he glanced over at Virgil. “I thought you were joking when you called him a prince, Virge!”

“Wish I was…” Virgil mumbled, finally looking up at Roman as well. Roman quickly met his gaze, his eyes wide and clearly screaming  _ help _ .

Luckily, Virgil caught the hint. He hopped off of Kai’s desk, moving to stand between the two. “Come on, give him some space.”

“Fine, fine,” Kai said. He took a step back, crossing his arms. He grinned up at Roman, and the prince was almost tempted to take a step back himself. Kai was decently shorter than him and Virgil, yet there was still something about the look in his eyes that scared him. “So you’re stuck with us now, huh? Can’t wait.”

“Kai, you’re gonna scare him off!” The dark haired kid stood up at well, walking to stand on the other side of Virgil. They gave Roman a bit of a smile. “You can just ignore him, he’s always like this. So, your name’s Roman, right?”

Roman nodded, his eyes lighting up a bit. “Roman Rosales,” he said. “I’m—”

“I already explained everything to them, we don’t need a big speech or anything,” Virgil interrupted quickly. He glanced over at Roman. “Roman, meet Elliot and Kai.”

“Woah, is that your magic wand?!” Kai suddenly exclaimed. Roman yelped as the shorter boy yoinked the artifact off of Roman’s belt. He held it up close to his face, way closer to a face than a wand was really supposed to be, and laughed. “Oh my god, I thought that was a toy!” He rolled it over in his hands. “Does this thing actually work?”

“Of course it does!” Roman snapped, snatching the wand out of Kai’s hands.

“Let me try it!”

“Absolutely not!” Roman exclaimed, holding the golden wand out of reach of the shorter boy. “It wouldn’t work for you, anyway.”

“Then do a spell for me!” Kai tried instead, taking a step closer to Roman. He smirked. “Unless you’re lying to us, and that thing’s totally fake.”

Roman’s expression shifted to a glare. “I would ne—”

“Oh, Kai, check it out!” Elliot said. Both boys glanced over at them. They were still standing with Virgil, the two of them looking through the contents of the random folder Logan had given to Virgil. “He’s in Logan’s class with us.”

That got Kai’s attention. “Nice!” he said. “Let me see.”

And losing all interest in Roman’s wand immediately, Kai took Virgil’s place next to Elliot. “Damn, we’ve got a lot of classes together…” he mumbled, before smirking back up at Roman. “Sweet.”

Virgil shook his head a bit, moving back closer to where Roman was. He plopped himself down on the desk again. Roman glanced at him, a million questions whirling through his head. So many that he wasn’t sure how to vocalize even one of them.

Luckily Virgil picked something to say before Roman had to figure it out for himself.

“You’ll get used to them,” Virgil said simply. “Surprisingly, they’re the least terrible people in this place.”

“I… see,” Roman said, trying not to sound too skeptical. He wasn’t exactly sure how well he succeeded, but luckily Virgil didn’t really comment on anything. He didn’t say much of anything after that, actually, with Elliot taking more of a lead in the conversation. Explaining even more about how his classes were going to work. Half of their words were still completely lost on Roman, but they provided a much clearer explanation than Logan had. And with their assurance that at least one of them would be in each of his classes, he was starting to feel a little better about the whole concept of school.

And then the bell rang. 

Elliot managed to convince him that the nearly demonic sound that filled the air was not, in fact, a symbol of an emergency, and instead just the symbol that classes were going to start soon. Kai was completely unhelpful, laughing as he sat back in his desk. 

“Today’s gonna be good…” he mumbled, his words mostly getting drowned out as the bell rang again, this time to symbol the start of the class.

Why they needed  _ two _ bells was absolutely beyond Roman, the first one should’ve been more than enough to get people’s attention! But the sound left his brain completely as Virgil slid into the desk next to him, laughing lightly. 

“Welcome to high school, Princey,” he muttered, quiet enough that the woman- who Roman had to assume was their teacher- didn’t comment as she started her lecture. “Good luck.” 


End file.
